At the risk of airing my dirty laundry...

I wanted to vent a little about my mother-in-law.

I'll start by saying that I believe that she always as a good intention in her heart when she says and does things. I'll follow that up with an observation that I believe she falls flat on her face with her execution of her ideas.

She provides updates about my niece's progress with the bone marrow transplant and it seems that she ALWAYS paints the worst possible picture, often exaggerating and mis-representing facts so that the we get an inaccurate understanding of the situation.

Case in point:
She said that my brother-in-law(J*) didn't want anybody coming down to visit them at the hospital. My other brother-in-law(D*) decided to go down anyway and have a little visit with his brother. It turns out that J* was so happy to have someone come down and "have a cup of coffee" to give him a bit of a break and, I assume, remind him that we're here for him if he needs us. With this revelation, Marie was chattin' with J* and mentioned that I wanted to drop by and have a coffee with him since I'm workin' a few blocks away from the hospital. J*'s response was very positive and he said he would love to have the visit. Now I feel like a heel 'cause I've been so close to where they are and yet I haven't gone over to see them because M-I-L said it wasn't a good thing.

This is where M-I-L and I have very different approaches to things... she thinks that you should keep away from people in sensitive situations whereas I believe that when someone is suffering, you should demonstrate that you are there, be supportive and not be afraid to "make contact" to see if the person in need is receptive to you support. In some cases they want the space but at least they know that you're there if they need you and you've demonstrated it through actions as opposed to words, which people are always quick to offer but they remain just that - words. Don't get me wrong, it's important to be sensitive to what the person wants and not force yourself on them, just let them know in a gentle way that you are really there and ready to support them.

It makes me want to respond the way that stewardess in the NicoDerm commercial acts. Take a look:


Imagine me responding to my M-I-L the way she handles that guy "THE SEATBELT SIGN IS ON! GAWD!" except I'd be saying, "STOP BEIN' A MEDDLING OLD LADY! GAWD!"

(in sheepish tone) Did I mention that my in-laws are helping us finish off our basement? What? Can't I still feel that way about her even though she's helpin' us? '(sheepish tone off)

Speaking of the basement, we've put off the drywall guys until Monday so I can finish off the last few things (framing the doors, putting up the vapour barrier, finishing the insulation around where the plumber worked yesterday, etc) I should have no problem gettin all the little things done by the end of the weekend even though on Saturday we're going over the Cobourg to get help from the local Member of Parliament to get our passports processed quickly in the event that we go down to Florida on March break. Okay, a few details on that one.

We're waiting to see how our niece is doing before we go on any family trips, just in in case. With the whole flight thing for Marie, last year she had bought a ticket to fly to a music teachers conference but ended up having her seizure so we got an extension to her ticket that expires April 1st. We figured that rather than driving for 24 hours with the baby, she would use the ticket, the baby would fly for free and she would be only travelling for a few hours versus days. The theory is that it will be easier than the road trip although I have to say I'll miss havin' her as my co-pilot and relief driver. We always have a blast on these long road trips... they're such an adventure with the kids.

Anyway, I have a 10:00 conference call so I'd better stop here and get ready for the meeting... it has the possibility of bein' a little lively (in a work kinda way) because of the topic.

Have a great day everyone!

g.